High-speed oil-engine.



P. P. D'EMPSEY.

HIGH SPEED OIL ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 26. 1915.

Patented Nov. 2?, 1917. I

w ATTOR/IIEKS surf s as lantar or tion PETER P. DEMPSEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 DEMPSEY OIL ENGINE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A GORPORATIUN 033" NEW YORK.

HIGH-SPEED OIL-ENGINE.

menace,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov, 2%, iiQul'it.

To all whom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, PETER P. DEMPSEY, a: citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve-' ments in High-Speed Oil-Engines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In a co-pending application filed by the present applicant on May 15, 1915, Ser. No. 28,277, there is described a method of operating high speed oil engines which consists generally in spraying the'oil past a fixed valve, adding thereto a limited quantity of air insufficient to form an explosive mixture, heating this rich fuel, introducing it into the working cylinder while thus heated, then adding to the rich fuel a supplemental supply of air sufiicient to forman explosive mixture and compressing and igniting the charge. It was suiiicient for the purpose of the'co-pending application to state that the supplemental supplyv of air was controlled in its flow into' the working chamber by a check valve of such character as to admit such a quantity of air as would be suflicient to form an explosive mixture with the rich fuel. In accordance with-the present invention, the same method of operating an oil engine is employed, but it is proposed to employ, in an engine operated by this method, a manual control for the valve past which the supplemental air supply is admitted. The oil, as before, is sprayed past a fixed valve and the limited quantity of air added thereto remains constant, so that the rich heated mixture is always composed of fixed relative proportions of air and gas. The explosive mixture created in the working chamber by the introduction of the supplemental air supply is varied in its composition by admitting more or less air past the manually controlled air valve so that the speed of the engine is regulated by forming a richer or leaner mixture in the working chamber. The improved engine, therefore, has its speed regulated by a manually controlled air valve and not, as is usual, by a manual control of the gas valve. The invention will be described more particularly hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which is illustrated, somewhat conventionally, an engine equipped with the improvements and adaptedto be operated by the improved method more fully described in the co-pending case referred to. In these .drawings 'Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a two cylinder high speed oil engine embodying the improvements.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail view on a somewhat larger scale and in section, taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 andlooking in the direction of the arrows, and showing one of the manually controlled air valves for regulating the supplemental air supply.

Fig. 3 is a detail view in section, taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Since the present improvements are to be applied to oil engines operated in accordance with the method covered by the copending case above identified, it will be well first to point out briefly the several steps of this method leading up to the final introduction of a. supplemental air supply, the present case being concerned directly with the control of this supplemental air supply. The engine illustrated in Fig. 1 is shown as having two cylinders (1, although it will be evident that the improved method of operation may be employed with an engine having any number of cylinders. Each of the cylinders derives its fuel supply as from a. fuel supply pipe, indicated at 6, through which heavy oil may flow into a suitable spraying or vaporizing device, indicated conventionally at c, where the sprayed hydrocarbon has brought into associationwith it a limited quantity of air, as through an air port d, this limited quantity of air being insuflicient to form an explosive mixture with the sprayed hydrocarbon. The rich fuel created in this manner is carried from the spraying device 0 through a suitable heater, indicated at H, where it is thoroughly dried and heated and from which itpasses in its heated state directly into the cylinders a, as through an inlet pipe 6. To this heated, rich, non-explosive fuel, there must be added by direct introduction into the working chamber, a quantity of air suf ficient to form an explosive mixture In accordance lwith the improved metl'lOd d1S closed in the co pending case referred to,

Mid

this additionalsupply ofair is admitted at the bottom of the suction stroke of the pis: ton, the disclosure in said application being of a port formed in the cylinder wall and controlled by a check valve and adapted to be uncovered by the piston at the bottom of the suction stroke to admit the required quantity of air. In accordance with the present invention, there-is provided in the wall of each cylinder an air inlet passage f,

the inner end of which is adapted to be uncovered by the piston indicated at g, at the lower end of the suction stroke of the latter. The air inlet passage is controlled by a check valve h which is normally held to its seat by a spring 2' operatively connected with the stem h of the checkvalve. The quantity of air admitted past the check valve h when it is unseated by the suction created by the piston g, is controlled, in accordance with the present invention, by a suitable air valve k disposed at the lower end of the air passage and arranged to be controlled manually by'a link Z, connections to which may be had through rods Z, Z etc., to a hand lever disposed at some convenient point, as on the steering wheel of an automobile. The air valve 71. is illustrated as of the ordinary butterfly type,-but it will be evident that valves of any description, such as rotary valves, etc., may be used to control the quantity of air admitted past the check valve 71. to the air passage f.

In operation, the valve is is moved through the linkage Z, Z, Z to admit any desired quantity of air past the check valve it through the air passage 7" and into the working cylinder, so that the speed of the engine may be regulated in accordance with an adjustment given manually to the air valve 70. As has been pointed out, the proportion of hydrocarbon and air brought into association with one another at the spraying device 0, is always fixed, so that the character of the heated, rich fuel introduced into the working cylinder always remains the same.

The only means for varying the character of the explosive mixture which is finally created, then, resides in the air valve is, by which the quantity of air admitted to the cylinder is determined. If the valve is be opened wider, a greater quantity of air will be admitted and the explosive mixture will be leaner. If, on the other hand, the air is cut down, the mixture will be richer. According to whether the mixture be richer or leaner, just so will the speed of the engine correspond. Y

The character of the present invention having been indicated broadly by the description thus far given, the details of construction employed in the illustrated em bodiment will be described with greater particularity.

Where two or more cylinders are employed, as will be the case usually, a common air chamber m may be employed and each of the cylinders 64 may communicate with this chamber through separate air passages f. Each-air passage 1'', however, will have its own check valve it. Each check valve 72. may be carried by a valve cage n, one end of which is shouldered, as at n, to engage the edge of an opening formed in the chamber 911. to receive the cage. The cage is further formed with a suitable seat a for the check valve it and may have cast with it a spider a through which extends the stem hof the check valve, the valve being guided in its movement by the disposition of its stem within the spider. In the periphery of each cage at there is formed an annular series of air ports a by which each air passage f is placed in free communication with the interior of the chamber m. In the lower wall of the chamber mand opposite each cage a is threaded-a bushing 0, the upper edge of which engages the lower face of the valve cage n and maintains the cage in fixed position in the opening formed therefor in the top wall of the chamber m. Each bushing 0 supports an air valve/b and the stem is of each valve is extended beyond the face of the bushing to receive the link Z, the links Z of the valves is being interconnected, as by the rod Z so that manual manipulation of the rod Z brings about simultaneous and proportionate movement of all of the air valves is. In this way, it is insured that each cylinder a will have admitted thereto the same quantity of air and inasmuch as each cylinder is assured of the same rich mixture from the spraying device 0, the speed of each piston in each cylinder must necessarily tend to be the same, aside from mechanical interconnections of the various pistons.

It should be evident that the improved control for the supplemental air supply can be eil'ected advantageously by other valves and arrangements of ports, passages, -etc., than those illustrated in the drawings and that the invention resides, not so much in the means for controlling the introduction of this supplemental air supply into one or more cylinders, but rather in the association with a high speed oil engine operated in accordance with the method set out in the copending application referred to, of suitable devices for permitting the speed of the engine to be regulated by the manual control of the supplemental air supply. Reference is to be had to the appended claims'for a clearer definition of the scope of the present invention in which claims there will be found reference both to the improved devices for carrying out the invention as well as the improved method in which the devices are employed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a high speed oil engine, a constant source of finances supply of oil, a vaporizer for the oil having an air inlet duct through which limited quantity of air insufficient toiorm an explosiv mixture is admitted to the vaporizer cha 32?, a heating chamber through which the rich naixture is drawn from the vaporizer chamber, a connection from this chamber into the engine cylinder, an auxiliary air an; rl through which a supplemental volume oi? air is drawn directly into the cylinder and there added to the rich mixture to form an enplosive gas, and manually controlled devices for regulating the auxiliary air supply and by it,tl1e speed of the engine. 2. ln high speed oil engine, a constant source of so; pl; of oil, a vaporizer for the il having an inlet ductthrough which limited quantity of air insuiiicient to form n explosive mixture is admitted to the vaer chainben-a heating chamber through 1 the rich mixture is drawn from the vaporizer chamber, a connection from this chamber into the engine cylinder, an auxiliary supply through which a supple mental volume of air is drawn directly into the cylinder and there added to; the fuel to form an explosive gas, comprising a duct leading into the cylinder Wall at a point somewhat above the position of the piston at tie bottom or? its stroke, a valve disposed in duct, and manually operable means for controlling the valve and regulating the volume of air admit-ted to the cylinder.

3. In a multi-cylinder high speed oil engine, an auxiliary air supply for each cylinder through which a supplemental v0 ume of air is drawn directly into each cylinder and there addedto'the fuel to form an explosive gas, comprising a duct leading into each cylinder wall at a point somewhat above the position of the piston at the bottom of its stroke, a common air chamber I fuel supply, an auxiliary air supply through which a supplemental volume of air is drawn directly into the cylinder and there added to the fuel to form an explosive gas, comprising a duct leading into the cylinder wall at a point somewhat above the position of the piston at the bottom of its stroke, a

check valve disposed in said duct to control automatically the inflow of air, a second valve carried in the duct beyond the check valve, and manually operable devices connected to said second named valve for controlling positively the admission of air to vary the mixture and thereby control the speed of the engine.

5. In a multi-cylindcr high speed oil engine, an auxiliary air supply for each cylindcr, comprising a duct leading into the cy1- inder wall at a point somewhat above the position, of the piston at the bottom of its stroke, an air chamber-with which each duct communicates at its outer end, a valve cage for each duct disposed in the air chamber and formed with an annular series of air ports to place the air chamber in free communication with each cylinder, a check valve seated in each valve cage to control automatically the inflow of air into each cylinder, a second valve for each duct carried in the air chamber to control the admission of air, positive connections between each of said last named valves and manually operable devices for actuating said valves.

This specification signedthis 23rd day of l lovember A. D. 1915.

' :en'rnn 'r. DEMPSEY. 

